Isle of Skye
The Isle of Skye is an island off the north-western coast of Scotland. We took a long drive (7hrs) here from Edinburgh through the Highlands of Scotland. By an unfortunate twist of events (Lawrence’s flight here from the USA got grossly delayed due to bad weather), I only managed to spend one full day on this beautiful island. However, we still tried to make the most out of it by exploring vastly different sites. The scenery was really fantastic, and the photographs that I attempted to take really do not do the beauty of this place any justice at all. It was vast, stark, harsh, cold and beautiful, and it was so amazing just being in the midst of such natural beauty.
The views on the island are varied. It ranges from vast acreages of farmland with grazing sheep and highland cows, astounding cliffs with relentlessly crashing waves, gentle benign beaches, azure blue bays, rolling hills, strong silent deep blue lochs, to rock structures of fantastic shapes and forms. The light here is also amazing. In the morning, everything sparkles with dew, and at sunset, the sky is a dazzling array of colours. Sunsets are the most amazing – the sky is pastel pink, purple, and orange all at the same time, and it bathes everything in its golden glory.
We also saw many animals on the island. Sheep are abundant and graze just about anywhere, within the confines of farmland and outside the boundaries of any kind of farms- I swear I’ve seen them trying to eat vegetation on cliff faces too, and have no idea where or how they got there. Cows are also plentiful, there’s the normal dairy cow, and its cuter relative – the Highland cow, or Highland “coo” which its more affectionally called here. When we stop the car to take a picture of them, the cows will unanimously look up from their drinking vessel, and turn to look at me. They appear to ponder curiously about who I am or what I want, and upon deciding that I’m relatively harmless, turn back to their drink with an air of boredom. Its all very hilarious really.
Before heading to Skye, I read about a place called Faerie Glen. Its supposed to be a mysterious place filled with hillocks, and has a magical air about it, just like you’d imagine elves and faeries inhabiting the area. We made our way there, driving on teeny farm roads, stopping the car as farmers and sheep dogs herded sheep across the road and chased runaway lost lambs all over the place, and finally finding ourselves surrounded by an unreal landscape of little hills. It wasn’t as magical as I’d imagined it to be, but we still had lots of fun climbing the hills and chasing random sheep that were grazing there around.
More pictures from Skye to come!
